Page 29 of Dark Sky

Earl looked to both of his sons and said something to them with his eyes. Jacketta couldn’t interpret it.

“We both know I have as much right to hunt on public land as you do,” Jacketta said, “but I don’t want any trouble. There’s three of you and one of me. I’ll break camp first thing in the morning and hike eight miles or so to the east. I’ll give you guys this whole mountain and stay out of your way.”

Jacketta hated giving up so easily. He’d scouted the area for months before the season opened and he knew there were elk here. He wasn’t so sure that would be the case eight miles east.

Brad said to Earl, “He was glassing the hunting party when I found him.”

Earl turned his gaze on Jacketta again. “Do they know you’re up here spying on them?”

“I wasn’t spying. They built a gigantic fire and it got my attention.”

“Do they know you’re here?” Earl asked.

Jacketta shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you know who is in that hunting party?”

“How would I know that?”

Jacketta looked to Brad and Kirby and made aWhat’s this all about?gesture with his hands.

“He don’t know,” Brad said.

“Don’t know what?” Jacketta asked the three of them.

Earl slowly shook his head and mouthed something to his sons. Jacketta thought it was “No guts,” which he took as an insult.

“Brad offered me dinner, but I’d like to take a rain check,” he said. He started to walk back in the direction they’d come, but Brad blocked him.

“Really,” Jacketta said. “I’ll break camp tonight and move on. I really don’t want to run into you guys tomorrow, either.”

Then it hit him. The words Earl had mouthed weren’t “No guts.” They were “Noguns.”

Jacketta broke for it, shouldering himself around Brad and running as fast and as hard as he could for the dark trees in the direction of his camp.

“Shit,” Earl said from behind him. “The prick is fast.”

—

Jacketta ran blind, and it was terrifying. Tree trunks zipped past him on both sides and he couldn’t see well enough to know if he was about to slam into one. Once he got deep enough into the lodgepoles, he thought, he’d put his headlamp on for the rest of the way. But he wasn’t far enough from the Thomas camp yet.

Jacketta had no idea what had just happened and he hoped he hadn’t misread it. But he didn’t think so. He thought he’d made the right decision to bolt. His heart whumped in his chest and he could feel the rise of goose bumps on his forearms.

Brad knew where his camp was, but Jacketta thought he could reach it and pack up before Brad could catch up. Brad was stealthy, but he wasn’t quick on his feet. Earl didn’t seem spry, either. Then instead of east where he’d mentioned, he’d go west. Throw them off his trail. And when he got back to town the next day, he’d go to the new sheriff and file charges. Enough was enough with these people, no matter how long they’d been in the county.

That’s when he heard footfalls on the forest floor just behind him.

Jacketta stopped and listened. He recalled how Brad had approached him without making a sound. Whoever was chasing him wasn’t taking those precautions.

Jacketta threw his arms up in front of his face and took off again. He pushed through pine boughs and bounced off tree trunks and he could see nothing. He was getting winded fromrunning and his lungs burned, but he tried to control his exhalations.

He ran across a small open meadow that was half-lit by starlight, then into another wall of tight lodgepole pines on the other side. Although he knew he shouldn’t take the chance, he paused and looked behind him.

It was Kirby, Brad’s brother. Kirby was just twenty yards behind as he crossed the meadow. A glint of starlight reflected off the blade of a large knife in Kirby’s hand.

There was no point in standing his ground, Jacketta thought. He’d left all his weapons at his camp. So he plunged forward. Jacketta couldn’t believe what was happening and he didn’t know why it was.

Footfalls. Kirby was getting closer.

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